Did I Mention...

Greetings Friends,

      It's been a minute since I've checked in, but I've come to realize that my blogging will be on an "as needed basis" for the time being.  Did I mention that I was a transplant to the country?  With that in mind, I decided to share a little of my "country-ness" with you.  There was a time when being called "country" was an insult to your upbringing and sense of style, but in these days when folks are tired of the hustle and bustle of life, it tends to reflect more of a longing for the simpler things of life and I'm always on a mission to find a simpler way of doing things.  (As an aside, that probably explains why I have every type of mop imaginable in my closet.  I just haven't found  one yet that doesn't require me getting my hands wet or moving my arm back and forth.).

     My latest quest for a little simplicity has led me to take up raising chickens--just a few and for eggs only.  Why chickens?  Glossy home and garden magazines are to blame.  I saw a beautiful garden in someone's backyard in one of these mags and she had a beautiful chicken walking around in it.  Made it seem so easy!  I don't have a beautiful garden or really a backyard for that matter.  It's more like a pasture. And of course her dog and cat get along with the chicken.   Needless to say what seems simple on paper doesn't always translate to simple in real life.  I've got the coop (chicken house) up and I'm working on the chicken run (yard) now.  No chickens yet.  I've got to give away a few cats and secure the dogs because they didn't get the memo calling for peace and unity among all the animals.  Here are a few pics of my endeavors via my handy dandy carpenter friend Kenny and Al, my neighbor, who's twice as enthusiastic as I am about country living and his son, A.J. who put the roof on for me.  Consider these the "Before" shots:

 Keep checking in for the "After".   I hope to have those up soon.  Be blessed and let me know what you're doing to simplify life!

Dana

A Toe in the Water

Remember the first day of swimming lessons?  Well, that's kind of how I feel right now, like I'm standing on the side of the pool, shivering and only willing at the moment to stick one toe in at time while my mom and all of the other kids are shouting, "just jump in!".  I'm not typically an "all-in" kind of person.  I have to research everything there is to know about a thing then watch to see how others do the thing and then I'm going to think on the thing...and then think some more.  And 9 times out of 10, I usually go ahead and do the thing.  Creating this blog was no different.  I started this process about 10 months ago and have been reading and researching ever since.  On this lazy early fall Saturday, I finally decided to "jump in".  My 16 year old daughter was the first to hear about my maiden voyage into the blogging world and of course her response was classic:  "Why, Mom? That's so lame!"( in her usual whiny voice). Why do I keep forgetting that teenagers are rarely a viable source of encouragement?! You'd think I'd get that by now having already emptied 3 from our nest of 5.  (Just 2 more left...{tear} not really).  Nevertheless, I am all in now and I look forward to sharing a bit of my life as I've shifted from using the right-side of my brain as a pediatrician to exercising the left side as a maker of things.  Oh, and why "The Pink Turnip", you ask? Or maybe you don't, but I feel the need to share anyway (right side kicking in). I love the color pink and I'm a transplant to the country and you can't get too much more country than turnips! Let me know what you think and feel free to share a bit of yourself with me.  I'd love to hear from you!